Judgment Day, Part 7

“We should go outside,” Molly said quietly, edging towards the emergency exit.

Daryl nodded, still looking down into the darkness, trying to follow the sounds of the others drifting up.  “Do you think there are more monsters out there?” he asked softly.  “I mean, that’s what that freak was saying, right?”

Molly’s hand was on the panic bar of the emergency door; she hesitated.  “They weren’t…” She paused and took a breath.  “They were just sick people.  Maybe the burns made them crazy.”

“Whatever they were, if that chick was right, I don’t want to go outside in the dark and invite them to tea.”

“It was just those people in the train,” Molly’s voice sounded thin, shaky.  The others came into view.  “They were burnt.  They were sick… We have to go get help for them.”  She looked at the wounded man, the blank stares of the two women and the child.  “And for us.”

Daryl turned towards her.  “A fireball just ripped through a  subway tunnel and tore all hell out of a train.  Where are the rescue workers?  How come nobody is here to help us now?”  He pointed towards the door.  “Something’s wrong out there, too.”

The others, standing in a tight group, just listened.  The young boy sat near them, eyes fixed on nothing.  He stood when the brunette put her hand towards his face and snapped her fingers, but it seemed like an automatic movement.  Stand up, take her hand, continue to stare into middle space.

Molly looked from the huddled group to Daryl and back again.  “We can’t stay in here!”  She looked back at the stairs, “That thing is still down there.  This air is going to kill us.”

Daryl leaned on the railing of the stairs and looked into the blackness below.  He clicked his tongue but didn’t know what to say.

“So what are you proposing?” The blonde woman stepped towards the emergency exit, standing beside Molly.

Daryl looked at the wounded man.  Whatever was wrong with him, he was doomed if there wasn’t any help out there.

The blonde stepped up close so he had to focus on her face.  “You’re saying we stay here and hide?  Or suffocate, more likely?  Wait for that thing to climb up and rip us to pieces?”

Daryl sighed.  “I don’t know.”

“We have to get out,” the brunette said.  She clutched the man’s arm with one hand and had her other arm around the child.

Daryl shook his head, turning towards the door.  “We have to… We have to think about this.”  He tried to keep his voice calm and patient.  He wanted out just as bad, but up here he felt that he had a defensive position.  They had the advantage if someone came up the steps, and the emergency door was impenetrable from the outside.  Or near enough.   He was sure that there were more of those things – monsters, sick people, whatever they were.  Where there were four, there had to be others. The emergency door led out to a suburb of several hundred thousand.  But the smoke was growing thick.  There would be no choice in a few minutes.

He looked at each of his fellow survivors in turn, “Something’s going on… Burned corpses don’t walk around beating people up.”

They froze, staring at him.  He had put it into words.  He had said what they were thinking.  Did that make it more real for them?

“They could be out there, too.” Daryl continued, pointing at the door.  “Do you want to run out into a night filled with those creatures?”

“What are the options?” Molly asked, her hand moving towards Daryl’s arm, then drawing away again.

“You’re being an idiot,” the blonde said, nodding her head towards the stairs, “Do you think we can stand up here and defend against a trainload of…” She looked at the child and swallowed.

“We go outside.” The brunette said.

“Yes,” the wounded man muttered.

“We have to try.” The blonde muttered,  “We’ll poison ourselves sitting up here.”

Molly nodded and pressed down the panic bar on the emergency door.  She hesitated for only a second, looking back at Daryl, then she pushed the door open and stepped into the night.   Cool air rushed into the tunnel and, despite his fears, Daryl sucked in the clear air and followed Molly outside.